Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted under the Espionage Act for conspiring to leak classified national defense information to The New York Times — and the same press corps that spent years howling about "threats to democracy" was happy to print the stolen intel.
The indictment, unsealed Monday, alleges Comey directed an intermediary to hand national defense information to NYT reporter Charlie Savage on October 5, 2016 — right in the middle of the FBI's anti-Trump Russia probe. For ordinary Americans, the lesson has been consistent: classified information laws are for the little people, and the legacy press will gladly launder your leaks as long as you're targeting the right president.
The two-count indictment charges Comey under 18 USC 793 — the same statute wielded against both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for mishandling classified material. According to the charging documents, Comey "through one or more co-conspirators directed Individual #1 to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication."
That reporter was New York Times journalist Charlie Savage, according to Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak. Farahnak stated the investigation "uncovered evidence that Mr. Comey directed staff to speak to [Savage] about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information," as NBC News reported.
The alleged co-conspirator appears to be Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor and longtime Comey ally who was previously subpoenaed in connection with the leak investigation. HotAir notes that Richman may have inadvertently revived the probe by writing a February essay in — of all places — The New York Times, complaining about the Trump administration's release of Epstein Files material. Richman scolded Trump and the DOJ for the disclosure, apparently forgetting that he himself had been part of an alleged scheme to do exactly that — except with actual classified national defense information.
The DOJ filed the indictment under seal on October 2, 2026 — just under the ten-year statute of limitations for Espionage Act violations, dating back to the alleged October 5, 2016 leak.
Comey responded on Instagram: "It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we can not become numb to." He added: "Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary."
This is Comey's third federal indictment. He was previously charged in 2025 with making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation.
The indictment landed just hours after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration had "unlawfully terminated" Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, from her position as an assistant U.S. attorney in 2025 — a ruling Comey's defenders will surely point to as evidence of political targeting, and one that complicates the narrative on both sides.
What no one in the press is complicating is their own role. The New York Times received classified national defense information from the FBI director himself, published it, and has offered no explanation for why it was happy to do so. The same outlet that editorializes about democratic norms didn't blink when those norms were shattered by the man running the world's most powerful law enforcement agency — as long as the target was Trump.
